Legless cyclist rides for asylum seekers

Thirty-five-year-old Carlos Gutierrez has endured rain, rough roads, flat tires and blisters on his stumps over the past 13 days as he rode from El Paso to Central Texas using his prosthetic legs.

Written by Associated Press

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El Paso, Texas:

A Mexican businessman whose legs were cut off by gangsters because he refused to pay extortion is finishing an 800-mile bike ride in Texas that he made to call attention to the plight of Mexican asylum seekers.

Thirty-five-year-old Carlos Gutierrez has endured rain, rough roads, flat tires and blisters on his stumps over the past 13 days as he rode from El Paso to Central Texas using his prosthetic legs.

Gutierrez, who applied in 2011, says U.S. asylum laws should be changed to accept people like him who fled Mexico's rampant violence.

Asylum is generally limited to those persecuted for ethnic, religious or political reasons.Â About 98 percent of Mexican asylum cases are rejected by U.S. officials.